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Assassination of Paul I

On the night of 11–12 (23–24) March 1801, conspiring Guards officers burst into Emperor Paul I’s bedroom in St. Michael’s Castle and killed him. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander I.

Date
12 (24) March 1801exact dateJulian calendar (Old Style); the Gregorian date (New Style) is in brackets
Place
St. Michael’s Castletoday: Saint Petersburg, Russia · Eastern Europe
Participants
Russian Empire, Paul I, Alexander I
Threads
Russia at the turn of the 19th century

The conspiracy was inspired by Nikita Petrovich Panin and Peter von der Pahlen; the men who carried it out were led by Nikolay Zubov and Levin von Bennigsen. At about half past midnight the officers demanded that the emperor sign an abdication in favor of his eldest son, and when he refused they beat and strangled him.

Officially, death from an “apoplectic stroke” was announced; information about the murder remained banned by the censors in Russia until 1905.

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Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Paul I of Russia
  2. Wikipedia (Russian): Убийство Павла I
  3. Эйдельман Н. Я. Грань веков. Политическая борьба в России. Конец XVIII — начало XIX столетия. — М.: Мысль, 1982.
  4. Wikidata: Q4468595